"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Friday, April 19, 2019

Beto-- And Joshua Cole

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When Beto was running for the Senate he brought the Texas Democratic Party to life. Friends of mine down there told me that wherever he went, a long-moribund Democratic Party was reinvigorated. Local candidates saw their own campaigns catch fire just because of association with Beto. 10th district congressional candidate Mike Siegel always told me that a little of Beto's star power would rub off on all the candidates who got up on the stage with him and that he was always generous with his support. "Beto’s 2018 Senate campaign," said Siegel, "was a gift to the people of Texas, and to every candidate on the ballot. His tireless work, to visit every county, to meet with thousands of people every day, made it possible for Democrats to flip every race in Harris County, to pick up 12 seats in the Texas House, and to flip two congressional districts. I participated in five town halls with Beto in the Texas 10th, which exposed me to crowds of 1000+ each time, and helped me earn votes and volunteers. The legacy of his 2018 campaign includes all those victories across the state, and perhaps more importantly, a renewed optimism and ambition for Democrats in Texas."Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in the district where the Democrats needed it most-- TX-23, which stretches from the Bexar suburbs south and east of San Antonio, down to the Rio Grande south of Eagle Pass then, all the way along the river through Del Rio, Big Bend National Park, and into San Elizario, Socorro and the suburbs south of El Paso-- which is Beto Country. The district, which had gone narrowly for Obama in 2008 and Romney in 2012, gave Hillary a 3.4 point win over Trump but has a Republican congressman, Will Hurd. 71% of the residents are Latino and the district was a top target for a red-to-blue flip. One of the closest races in the country, Hurd beat Jones 103,285 (49.2%) to 102,359 (48.7%). It's now one of only 3 districts won by Hillary that is still represented in Congress by a Republican; the other 22 all fell to Democrats last cycle. Many people blame Beto-- at least in part-- for Jones' loss. None of his star-power went to Jones. Beto is pals with Hurd-- they did a cross-country road trip in 2017-- and he adamantly refused to help Jones. When asked why he was refusing to help Jones, a moderate like him, he whined to the San Antonio Express-News "I’m going to do the right thing whatever the cost. I’ve almost got 11 months left in this job representing the people of the 16th Congressional District. And I’ve got to get shit done. And so, being able to work with Will Hurd and other Republicans and not have them look at me as the guy who’s trying to get them out of office... All we can do is our best and my best right now is finding ways to work with both Democrats and Republicans." Totally full of shit. (By the way, I recall Beto endorsing Sean Patrick Maloney, an uber-corrupt Wall Street whore from New York who was running for that state's Attorney General. The progressive favorite in that race was Zephyr Teachout.) On Wednesday, Beto was campaigning in Virginia and one stop was in Fredericksburg, where he campaigned with local Democratic candidate Joshua Cole at the Pimenta restaurant on Caroline Street. According to Fredericksburg.com, "Cole got things started by introducing several other local candidates and emphasizing the importance of this year’s elections in Virginia, where Republicans hold narrow edges in the House and Senate. He reminded the crowd he lost his 2017 bid for the 28th District seat by 73 votes, 'after 147 people were given the wrong ballots.'... His voice hoarse from talking so much this week, O’Rourke started by emphasizing the Virginia elections and lending support to Cole." The 28th is a good pick-up target for Democrats-- Hillary lost by just 1.1% to Trump, Obama won by just 0.09% over Romney and the incumbent, Bob Thomas is a corrupt conservative Republican.

So who's Cole and why was Beto so happy to endorse him? His own literature describes him as "an exciting young preacher running as the Democratic candidate for Delegate for Virginia’s 28th District, in Stafford County and Fredericksburg, Virginia." He describes himself as "charismatic" and "polished" and as the "National Director of Ecumenical Affairs for the Holy Christian Orthodox Church." In 2017 when he first ran, he described himself as a priest in the Holy Christian Orthodox Church, although suddenly he started styling himself as a Baptist minister. Are you wondering what the Holy Christian Orthodox Church is? Maybe Beto's team should have before he endorsed Cole. The denomination was founded by Timothy Paul Baymon, who is the Patriarch, President of the the World Bishops Council, the denomination's ecumenical body and president of Springfield Christian College and Theological Seminary, a non-accredited school that turns out charlatans. He's probably best known as the opening act on a 51 date tour with crackpot huckster "Rev" Sun Myung Moon. Baymon has been credibly attacked for practicing witchcraft and brainwashing.

Cole had a great personal statement ad in 2017 produced by the org "Why Virginia Matters 2017".

Ad can be found via Google at "joshua cole why virginia matters 2017"

Not sure where his commitments would be if elected -- there's a ton of pressure on local officials to basically fall in line. Just scanning the donors though, I don't see any big red flags. Not a Beto fan either.